


the Wicked Wonders of WoodHaven

by Siobhan2002



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Is Trying His Best, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Jokes, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, I Tried, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kid Fic, M/M, Magical Realism, Minor Henry Cheng/Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Minor Injuries, Multi, Nerd Richard Gansey III, Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Parents Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish, Pynch Week 2019, Remembering Noah Czerny, Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent Fluff, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish Fluff, Teen Crush, Work Up For Adoption, parents blue sargent/richard gansey III, pynch - Freeform, questionable but good parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:55:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19241476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siobhan2002/pseuds/Siobhan2002
Summary: The Gangsey have built a life and a family for themselves since returning to Henrietta.With two kids causing mischief at home and a dark, mysterious force at play, how will they stop it and keep their family safe...again.the answer?A boy, a son of a king, and a king in his own right.And a girl, with no memories, but a new found family, and strength fit for a queen.What is coming, and how will they stop it?





	1. The fuck?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey!  
> Thank you for clicking on my story!  
> This is only my second work but feel free to check out my last story.  
> still trying to improve my writing so feel free to leave criticism.  
> Also, I don't have a plan for this story...at all. I'm making it up as I go along, which is different but challenging and fun! So stay tuned to see how this turns out!  
> The only thing I know is that this will have a happy ending (I'm a sucker for those)  
> Anyway, enough waffling, enjoy!...

'DAD, WHERE'S MY SHOES?' 

'jesus, Noah, how the fuck should I know? And stop screaming for the love of - ADAM YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE'

Adam popped his head around the corner, doing up the buttons on his shirt with eyebrows raised, 'What were you going to tell Noah about yelling?' 

Ronan rolled his eyes and wagged his finger at his son, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' 

Noah scoffed, 'You told me just yesterday to kill the kid who ruined my homework.' 

'I did. So why haven't you?' Ronan said, handing Adam his packed lunch. 

'Really, lynch?' Adam scolded, 'Our kid comes to you for advice, and you suggest murder?' 

'Yes?' Ronan said hesitantly, not wanting to endure yet another lecture about young kids being impressionable and blah blah blah. It's not like he'd actually do it. The kid cries if Adam kills a spider instead of just putting it outside. 

Adam sighed exasperated, and Ronan braced himself for the torturous next 5 minutes, when Adam turned to Noah, 

'Well, why haven't you done it yet? If you wait till next week the sun will make the ground too hard to dig a grave.' 

Noah looked scandalised as Ronan howled with laughter. 

Owen let himself through the front door, as he does every morning, and raised his eyebrows as he watched Adam high five Ronan who's still shaking with laughter. 

'My dad's are psychopaths!' 

'Ha!' Owen chortled as he snatched the coffee cup out of Noah's hands,'tell me something I don't know.' 

'How's your dad?' Adam asked, and handed Noah another cup.

'Eh, he's okay. Aunt Helen should be fine, it's just the flu. But you know how dramatic grandma and grandpa get.' 

'i bet your mum's furious they flew Gansey all the way up there for the flu' Ronan said, and adjusted Noah's collar so that it stands up and messed his hair up.  
Noah swatted his hand away and put it back in place.

'Shes actually been kind of distracted lately. Grandma Maura and the rest of foxway have been weird, but they won't tell her why.' Owen admitted, a small furrow between his brows.

Ronan snorted, 'Theyre always weird. They're psychics.' 

Adam looked much more concerned then Ronan and glanced at his tarot cards laying on the counter. 

'uh oh,' Noah gasped and pointed at Adam, 'thats your witchy sense face. Your something bad's happening witchy sense face!' 

Adam smoothed the frown from his face and looked at his son with a gentle smile, 'everything's fine, Noah. I'm sure it's nothing.' 

Ronan looked towards Adam and the two seemed to have a silent conversation through just their eyes.

Noah hated when they did that. 

Owen gulped back the rest of the coffee and stood up grabbing his backpack, 'come on Noah, Cheng will be pissed if we're late for the last day of school.' 

The two boys set off for school, leaving Ronan and Adam alone in the kitchen. Ronan watched Adam wearily, knowing it was not just nothing.

'i take it you're going to see the maggot on the way home from work, then?' Ronan asked, handing Adam his briefcase. 

Adam nodded absentmindedly, 'i might be back late. If Opal calls tell her I love her, okay? Shit, im going to be late. I gotta run' 

'Later Parrish,' Ronan kissed his husband on the cheek and watched him run out of the door, knocking into walls and tripping on his untyed shoelaces on the way. 

Ronan was worried. Adam was never late, and Adam was never disorganized, but these last few days he had been. Ever since he read those fucking cards. 

He told Ronan he doesn't know what they mean, just that they're bad. That something bad will happen. Or is coming. Either way, it made a shiver run along his spine and he didn't care for it. 

They had come a long way since their teens, since their magical adventures and the tragedies that came along with them. It had taken time, but they healed, they moved on, and they grew up. 

Ronan and Adam were married, Opal was off travelling the world, and they had Noah.

He was just a newborn when they found him, alone and crying in a dumpster behind the grocery store. The second they saw his blonde hair and pale complexion they knew his name, and that he would be theirs. 

A couple months later and Blue gave birth. To say she was pissed that they had stolen the name she was going to use if it were a boy is an understatement. She was furious. But then Gansey suggested Owen, and she was even more furious. 

'That fucking Welsh king, you should've married him instead!' 

Then, after a long monologue where Gansey recalled how Glendower brought them together, and how if not for him they never would have been friends, and that by giving their son his name he would be honouring their friendship, she began to cry uncontrollably and wouldn't call him anything else. 

Pregnancy hormones are some scary shit. Never mess with a pregnant woman; Ronan learnt that the hard way.

Soon after that Gansey and Cheng both decided they wanted to save and improve Henrietta's public school, and give the students the same opportunities and support aglionbys were offered. After all, it would be the school their children would be attending. 

Adam graduated college and began working in the law, specifically working on cases of abuse and neglect, helping kids just like himself and Noah everyday. Blue became a veterinarian, and Ronan expanded his farm. 

They were adults, with families and careers and they had sacrificed a lot to get all that, and they protected it all with their everything. 

So stupid magical cards and psychics telling him something could jeopardize it all was fucking annoying.  
It was more then annoying, it was terrifying and infuriating and Ronan would be damned if anyone he loved got hurt…again. 

He could practically feel the anger boiling beneath his skin, his fists clenched at his side's and he wanted to scream. He wanted to punch and kick and drink and race. But he didn't do any of that. 

Instead, he worked on the farm. He cuddled cows and chased chainsaw around. He fed the chickens and saved baby birds from their fallen nest. He worked and worked until he could no longer bare the freezing cold that made his bones ache. 

Hours had passed, and walking back to the house the temperature had dropped significantly making his teeth chatter. Fucking coat was useless.

He heard thunder in the distance and grumbled, knowing he wouldn't make it back before the rain soaked him. The frosty grass crunched under his feet and the cold air burned his cheeks.

Snap.

Ronan froze. He heard the snap of a twig from his left, and he looked towards the woods scanning the gaps in the trees. It's probably just a deer, he chastised himself. But the hair that stood on the back of his neck and the fear that flowed through his veins told him otherwise. 

As he walked closer, he spotted a strange shape on the floor, resting against the trunk of a tree. 

Jesus Mary FuCK that was no deer. 

Ronan stood frozen, eyes glued to the figure. He wasn't a fearful person, and any other day he would've yelled at them for trespassing on private property, only throwing a punch or two if necessary, and called it a day. 

But it wasn't. With Adam and Blue already nervous, and giving ominous warnings about 'something bad', he knew he had to approach this more carefully.

Or not approach it at all. He could simply turn around and return to the house, and they'd be gone by tomorrow, right? 

He'd spent too long trying to decide, and now the figure moved, hauling themself onto their feet and turning around.

Ronan sucked in a breath, and felt his heart thud as he made eye contact with the…

Girl? 

Ronan stared at her startled face, wide eyes and open mouth, and immediately tried to look less intimidating.

She looked young, around the same age as Noah, but was surprisingly large, in both height and size.  
She was much bigger then Ronan, and only a few inches shorter, but looked incredibly young with her pigtails and tears streaming down her face. 

He took a step closer and she stumbled back with a squeak, visibly shaking. 

He held his hands up, and bowed his head slightly, hoping to look less scary,

'hey, I don't want to hurt you.' 

She stopped backing away, so Ronan continued, 

'My names Ronan. I own the house back there,' using his thumb he pointed behind him, 'you know this is private property, right?' 

Silence. If she didn't look like such a lost puppy Ronan would have gotten pissed by now.

'Look, what's your name?' 

She only shook her head in response, slumping back against the tree. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? 

'erm,' he stuttered, 'are you okay? I mean, can you call your parents? …or something?' 

She shook her head again, still rooted to the spot and still crying silently. 

'jesus, can you talk? Or are you just going to stand there until you freeze to death?' Ronan sighed, 

She wrapped her arms around her body and Ronan only now noticed her bare arms. 

He took off his coat and held it out to her, 'here,' 

She put it on, but it's too small to zip up. 

'Come on,' Ronan prompted as he turned around and began walking to the house. Thunder cracked and droplets of rain started to fall. 

After a few steps he looked over his shoulder and called back to her, 

'are you coming or what?' 

Suddenly the rain came down harder, drenching them in only seconds and she scurried to catch up with him, pulling the hood of his coat over her head. 

They ran to the house, the girl struggling to keep up and not slip, and chainsaw screeched from the doorway where she sat bone-dry. 

'Kerah!' she laughed at him as they entered, dripping onto the carpet.

'oh, fuck off' he spits, annoyed and cold and very, very wet. 

He jutted his head towards the stairs, 'guest bedroom is the second door on the left.'

'Not having you catching hypothermia and dying on me' he shrugged at her questioning gaze. 

He watched her from the corner of his eye as she shuffled up the stairs, and wonders what the actual fuck is going on right now. 

Freezing droplets of water fall down his neck and back, and he figured he can figure it out after he's had a hot shower and changed out of these damn clothes. 

 

\---

 

Adam was nervous. All day, he'd been distracted, messing up paper work and spilling coffee and generally being the opposite of himself. He saw the worried glances of his co-workers, but shrugged them off as best as he could. 

He hated the nerves, the stress that made his stomach churn and hands jittery. It was like a dark cloud was looming above him, and there was nothing he could do to get rid of it. 

Now, surrounded by the women of foxway, he noticed he wasn't the only one acting this way. 

There was a strange atmosphere in the house, one he couldn't decipher, but knew he didn't like. 

'Should we be worried?' he asked. Deep down, he already knew the answer to that. 

Blue ran her hand through her spiky hair and chewed on her bottom lip, a furrow between her brows.

Maura ran her finger through the bowl of grape juice, watching the ripples and the movement of the liquid, 

'We should be prepared.' she instructed

Adam suppressed a sigh, 'How do we prepare for it, if we don't know what it is?' 

There was an uneasy silence around the room, but he also already knew he wouldn't get an answer. Psychics didn't make their instructions clear, or give explanations. They give you small snippets and it was up to you to figure out the rest. 

He wasn't sure he wanted to figure this one out. 

Adam was a man of logic. He solved puzzles and problems like it was second nature, and looked at problems as only tiny inconveniences, never enough to stop him finding the answers or the solutions he was looking for. 

But something about this, something about the uneasy feeling in his stomach, made Adam squirm. 

He hated that.

'So, we just wait? That's what we have to do? Just wait for this something...to happen?' Blue growled, obviously both equally furious and afraid. 

Again, no answer. Just the sound of sloshing grape juice, and the whistling kettle. 

'We prepare.' they repeat. 

Adam Sighed and stood up, sharing a similar look of annoyance and a sympathetic smile towards Blue. 

'I should get home, I promised lynch I wouldn't be too late today.' 

Adam bent down to give blue a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed his jacket.

'If my offsprings there, tell him to get his ass home, Ganseys coming back tonight.' 

Adam promised he would try his best, but they both knew pulling Owen away from the barns would be a struggle. He seemed to enjoy it there more then his own home, and Adams no longer suprised when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find him trying to sneak into the cow barns or, usually, the forest. 

A promise of gansey might do the trick, though, he pondered. He loved his dad more then anything. 

Well, except maybe the cows.

Owen loved his mother too, of course. But he had gotten her strong personality, and the two often made for something explosive and very, very entertaining. Atleast it was for Adam and Ronan. 

Gansey though, having spent his whole life dealing with Blue, had learnt how to deal with him in a way others could not. He'd made many mistakes with the two of them, often saying something to trigger the explosion, but learnt from the many mistakes. 

Now he was a sargent-whisperer.

They decided to give Owen blues name, as there was many Ganseys to carry on the name and as gansey said,  
'the world deserves more Sargents, Jane. You're all extraordinary. The world needs more of that.' 

To Adam, they were both extraordinary, and he could see that clearly when he looked at Owen. He'd gotten Blues personality (and unfortunately for him, her height too) but he was a carbon copy of his father. The same hypnotising smile that drew people in, only to be met with a fierce character that scared them away. 

They'd made quite the person. 

Blue was the daughter of a psychic and a tree, with a strange ability to amplify power. And gansey, well, gansey was a king. A king who had defeated death too many times and was powerful in his own way. An extraordinary way. 

Combine them together, and it would be stupid to expect anything less. He'd never shown any powers, or any strange abilities, but he didn't have too. They all knew they were there. Knew there was something remarkable about him. Knew he was a king himself. 

Adam arrived home and opened the front door, and was surprised when he couldn't smell dinner the way he usually could.

'Ronan?' he called out, wondering if he'd lost track of time on the farm again.

He walked further into the house and was about to turn out of the living room when he saw something out the corner of his eye. 

He froze.

Slowly, he turned around and faced the sofa. He could see a foot peeking out from behind it, so he grabbed the vase off the mantle behind him.

He lunged forward, vase in hand, and came face to face with…

A girl? 

She jumped back, colliding with the wall and let out a scream as she looked at him with terrified eyes.

What the fuck? He thought.

 

\---

 

Ronan was shoving random crap he'd dumped in the guest room into his closet, trying to make it as livable as possible for the …what does he call her? Random girl? 

He shrugged, random girl would have to suffice for now.

Suddenly, he heard a scream echo through the house and he throws the pillow in his hand down, hurtling down the stairs. 

He stumbled to a halt as he stood in the living room doorway, staring at random girl huddled in a corner against the wall behind the sofa, and Adam on top of it, vase raised in his right hand. 

Uh oh. 

'uh, Parrish, you gonna put that down?' he gestured his head towards his hand and Adam obeyed, settling it onto the sofa beside his foot, and jumped back onto the floor. 

'who the hell is this?' 

'This is…random girl.' 

Ronan blatantly ignores Adams glare and the way his left eye twitched slightly, and turned to her instead,

'This is Adam, my husband, the one I was telling you about earlier' Ronan spoke softly, trying to ease the fear that he'd spent the last couple of hours trying to get rid of.  
Only for his idiot husband to fuck it up with a god damn vase. 

She eyed Adam wearily, but uncurled from the tight ball she'd moved into, and gets up from the floor, back still pressed against the wall behind her.

'Hi' Adam tried, lifting his hand in a pathetic little wave. 

She timidly waved back with a small twitch to her lips and Ronan let out a breath of relief. 

Ronan clapped his hands together and exhaled sharply,  
'right, who wants dinner then? Im starving.' 

He doesn't wait for an answer, instead marching to the kitchen, highly aware of Adam right on his heels. 

His gaze burns the back of his head, but Ronan refused to acknowledge it and instead started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and cabinets. 

'Ronan!' he grumbled, stealing them out of his hands and slamming them onto the counter, 'explain. Now.'

'There's not much to explain, really.'  
Adam raised his brow and Ronan sighed, carrying on anyway,  
'Look, I was out on the farm. Found her in the woods, It was raining and she was shivering. So I invited her in, like a good person, and tried to talk to her, to find out she doesn't talk. Settled with the name random girl. And here we are.' 

'what?' Adam breathed.

'I was on the farm-'

'No,' Adam interrupted, 'i heard you. But, I mean, how did she get in the woods? And she just…doesn't talk? At all?' 

'i have no idea! That's what I've been trying to figure out. The only way to get to the fields is through the house, but we would've noticed. And, you know, the fucking doors were locked. There's no way she climbed fucking 6ft fencing, either.' 

Adam nodded in agreement

'and no, she doesn't talk. At all. Believe me, I've tried.' he sighed, leaning back against the counter. 

The two stand there in contemplative silence, trying to figure this whole strange situation out. 

'You don't think this has anything to do with what's coming, do you?' Adam whispered, tangling his hand in Ronan's

'what do you mean 'what's coming'? What did the witches say' 

Adam groaned and tightened his grip on Ronans' a fraction more, 'nothing really. Just that something's coming. Something bad. And we have to prepare.'

'prepare? How the fuck are we supposed to do that? What does that even mean? Do I need to dream up some badass armour or something?' 

'i don't know' Adam mumbled, frustrated at not knowing. He didn't like not knowing. 

'She's just a girl,' Ronan pointed out, 'there is no way she's what they were talking about.' 

'maybe.' 

They stand there for a moment longer, resting against each other, when they heard the front door and Noah's loud voice echo through the house.

'DADS! WE BOUGHT PIZZ - oh. Hello.' 

They left the kitchen and there the boys stood, each holding a pizza box, and staring at random girl. 

Noah held out his hand and plastered a big toothy grin on his face, 'HI! I'm Noah!' 

She ignored Noah, her eyes bugged out as she gawked at Owen. 

The pizza box fell from his hand as he looked at her the same way.

'celeste?' He gasped

'Owen?' she croaked.

Ronan marveled at the sound of her voice, at the way she spoke so easily to him despite his hours of trying, at how they even knew eachother. 

'The fuck!?' Ronan crowed.

'the fuck,' Adam agreed from beside him.

The fuck?


	2. Something was happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two is up! I don't want to spoil anything so read the notes at the bottom!  
> Enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> \- Siobhán xx

Owen was cold. Scrap that, he was freezing, and felt as though he was frozen solid. 

Before even opening his eyes, he knew something was strange. Different. 

He peeled his eyes open and slowly took in his surroundings. The familiar scent of the trees, the feel of the twigs beneath his back, they all told him exactly where he was. 

Woodhaven.

If he went to the end, he'd be at the entrance to cabeswater. Or, cabeswater-2 as Ronan always called it. They all went there quite frequently, enjoying the safe space he'd created for them. 

But not Owen. Woodhaven was Owens sanctuary. The place he felt drawn too, the place he always wanted to be.

To the others, it was just the woods. Just the small part of land that hid cabeswater. Owen knew that, somehow, he saw something else. Somewhere else. 

They've never been to his woodhaven. He couldn't figure it out, how they could all be there, but in different places. How to them, they were simply walking through the woods, but to him…well, he wasn't quite sure what it was to him.

Wasn't sure how to describe Woodhaven, just that it was different. Other-wordly. The way the trees were just too tall, the way the leaves were just too green, the grass too soft, the sky to bright. Everything was just…more.

He always went there, felt drawn to it. Like there was someone there calling his name, but the second he got there, it was silent. 

Only the humm of the trees and the energy that pulsed beneath it could be heard. 

It wasn't uncommon for him to wake up in the middle of the night in woodhaven, but this was different.  
Usually, he pretended he would walk here when his insomnia was acting up. 

He didn't have insomnia. 

He was always asleep when he arrived, only being woken by the sharp jab of twigs or rustling leaves. 

Owen knew this was more then just sleep walking. Owen seemed to know a lot of things, sometimes not even knowing how he did. 

There was a lot of strange things about Owen. But he didn't know what exactly, either. Just that they were there.

That seemed to be a common occurrence to him. Knowing there was something to be known, but not knowing what it is. Or was. Or will be. 

Or knowing how to find out. 

His entire being was constructed of question marks, of knowing and not knowing.  
His entire soul was fueled by the need to have the answers. 

The answers to what? He didn't know. He Just knew that he would find them. 

He knew and he didn't. Knew everything and nothing. 

The question marks scratched and itched at his insides. He needed answers. He needed a purpose. He needed something, but he didn't know what it was. 

The world, the universe, it was one giant, impossible puzzle and he needed to know where he fit. Where his place was. 

Where everyone's place was. He wanted to solve the entire thing. 

People had forced themselves into the wrong places, their edges now broken and ruined. Owen wanted to fix that.

But there was too many pieces, and not enough time. 

And how were you supposed to take part in the puzzle, to find where you fit, if the finished product was ruined anyway? 

Why waste time on your own tiny piece, when the whole picture was scrambled and wrong? Why live to the rules and the construct of the world, when so many didn't? 

Whys and how's and when's and where's and who's, they all crashed and swirled and drowned him. 

Woodhaven kept him afloat. 

Stones and twigs sliced at his bare feet as he pulled himself up from the ground and leant against the nearest tree. 

Something was happening.

He felt electricity crackle through his bones, felt a surge of...something...flow through his veins. 

Felt power. 

The strong wind picked up, pulling and yanking on the trees, fighting and tugging with the world around him. 

Leaves and branches and stones swirled around. Snow fell, but so did rain. Thunder and lightening. And sun. 

Everything screamed and shoved and pushed until it collided with a force so strong it knocked him off his feet, his face colliding with the dirt. 

And then it stopped. 

Whatever 'it' was. 

'Fuck' he whispered, confused but not afraid. 

The woods had settled, the wind had gone, and it had returned to its original state. 

No signs of rain or snow. Of a miniature tornado that Owen knew was not scientifically possible. 

Given his magical life, he'd given up on science based explanations a long time ago. Not that he'd ever tell Adam that. 

He looked around, and only now realised he had been near the edge of woodhaven, the fields only feet away.

He ran his fingers against the bark of a tree, feeling the rough surface scrape his skin. 

This tree was different. 

The bark was rough. Solid. And yet, somehow, it pushed back against his hand. 

Startled, he jumped back, foot catching on the roots and his arse collided with floor.  
Even from the ground, his eyes stayed glued on the trunk. 

It didn't move, so he did. 

Not getting up, but crawling to the base, he crossed his legs and sat Infront of it. 

Wearily, he raised his hand again, gently pressing it back against the tree. Almost instantly he felt the wood soften and move beneath his hand. 

The bark outlined a hand that pushed and stretched the wood, reaching out towards him. 

'Jesus Christ, are you growing limbs?' he marveled, hoping that the tree did not infact answer him. He wasn't sure he could cope with a talking tree too. 

The hand latched onto his, and began pulling. 

He crashed into the trunk, his hand being pulled and pulled. Immediately, he tried to pull his hand away, grazing the skin and watching blood trickle down his wrist. 

'fuck fuck fuck, let go!' he cried, fighting back and pulling against the tree with his entire body weight. 

Pulling and pulling and pulling he pressed his feet against the base and pushed with his feet, desperately scrambling away. 

The hand grew into an arm, and reached further out the more he pulled away. 

He felt a scream bubbling in his throat, a cry for help on his lips. 

But was stunned into silence as the bark began to splinter, splitting and snapping around the arm. 

Wood chips flew around him and he raised his free arm, shielding his eyes. 

Crack! Snap! 

He felt sharp wood stab into his arms and body, and shied away from it. The noises grew louder and louder and he couldn't bring himself to look. Couldn't bring himself to confront the monster. For a split second, he felt ashamed. He had the blood of a king flowing through his veins, a king who never backed down from the unknown, and yet here he was.  
A coward, hiding. 

The snapping of the wood was drowned out by a strange whimpering, so human like that all fear he felt disappeared in an instant, instead overpowered by his curiosity. 

His shaky arms slowly fell from around his head as he uncurled himself, brushing off chunks of wood stuck on his shirt as he did. 

Owen couldn't quite comprehend the sight Infront of him. 

A tree, perfectly unharmed. Not a single scratch, not a single twig out of place. A tree, that only moments ago was breaking and growing infront of his eyes, exactly as it was before. 

Well, aside from the girl that now lay beside it. 

His feet felt rooted to the ground, his eyes following her every move as she goroggily sat up, staring between her shaking hands and the tree. 

'what the hell just happened?' she muttered, staring at the tree as though waiting for an answer. 

Owen cleared his throat, and her head snapped in his direction with a squeak, scrambling back slightly

He shuffled nervously from one foot to the other, 'I was hoping you could tell me,' 

'who - who are you? And where am I? And what just - I mean …' she stuttered and blabbered, her voice trailing off as she wobbled to her feet. 

Owen wasn't quite sure how to answer. Wasn't quite sure what had just happened, and how to deal with it. 

'Did you just,' he ignored her questions, instead asking his own, ' Did you really just come out of a tree?' 

Standing, she towered over him - though that wasn't particularly unusual for his height - but despite her large size she curled into herself, making herself seem small and timid. 

'I think I did' she answered in disbelief. 

What now? He thought. 

Owen stuck out his hand,

'Im Owen. Owen Sargent.' 

'Celeste,' she gently placed her hand in his and shook it, 'Celeste Steelman.'

The moment her hand fell away, it happened. 

The stones and leaves and twigs rose and flew around them. The wind howled as it rained and snowed.

Electricity pulsed through him and crackled with bang that sent pain shooting through his entire body. 

The last thing he saw, was Celeste's terrified face, before he woke with a start.  
Gasping for breath he clasped at his throat, begging for oxygen. 

Frantically, he looked around him, and felt his heart sink as he stared at the bleak walls of his bedroom. 

The cuts and blood had disappeared from his skin, and his door was still locked. 

It was a dream, he realised with disappointment. 

It was just a dream. 

 

\---

 

It wasn't just a dream. 

Owen gaped at her, completely dazed. She was real. And she was here. 

'Owen?,' Noah muttered, poking him gently in the ribs, 'care to explain?' 

Swatting away Noah's hand, Owen steadied himself against the wall and wondered how exactly he was supposed to explain something he couldn't quite understand himself. 

'uh, not really Noah.' he admitted, gaze still locked with her's. 

Ronan folded his arms and regarded him with his dad-glare. Which was very different from his I'm-angry-glare, his I'm-slightly-amused-and-mad-about- it-glare, and his normal resting-glare. 

This was the worst. It could always make him and Noah crack, spilling any secrets and ultimately getting them in trouble. (They didn't meant to break the window! )

 

Owen tried his best to avoid it, shuffling nervously and facing away from him, but he could feel it burning the back of his skull. 

With a groan, he relented, 'Okay! Fine! I'll tell you, just stop doing that with your face!'

Blue would be disappointed in him, giving in to Ronan so easily. Although, figures she would have wanted to know too.  
There's no way he would have survived against the both of them. 

Truth be told, though, Adams was the worst, but was kept for the worst of instances. If looks could kill…

Well, Ronan would have died long ago, that's for certain.

He looks back to Celeste and nods towards her, 'you tell em.' 

She shook her head, folding her arms around her.

Groaning, again, he waddled over to the sofa and flopped down with a thud.

'Well, you better sit down then.' 

The others followed, sitting down too, except Celeste.

She hovered awkwardly in the corner of the room, so Owen patted the seat next to him. He didn't particularly know her any more then the others did, but figures pulling someone from a tree makes for atleast level 1 friendship, right? 

'Well, we met. Sorta. Like, two days ago? I think.' he started

'Three, actually.' Celeste corrected, speaking up for the first time since she said his name. 

'Right, three.' he nodded in agreement, 'Well, what happened was…'

 

\---

The room was crowded. Too crowded. There was too many people, all of which were looking at him, and he hated it. 

It was now the next day, and after a long and slightly confusing explanation of what happened, Adam immediately called Owens parents, who then called Henry and Maura and Calla and Mr. Grey too. 

That was a lot of people to have staring at you with the same worried, confused, and slightly judgy expressions on their faces. 

Aside from a few corrections in his retelling of their...experience…Celeste had remained silent. Ronan and Adam offered the guest bedroom, which Noah had persuaded her to take. He was hard to say no too. 

Besides, he figured she didn't have anywhere else to go. 

Owen felt as though he should talk to her, but decided avoiding her would be just as effective, so went with the latter. 

'Why the hell didn't you tell us!' Blue demanded.

'mum, I thought it was just a dream, it's not like weird dreams are a strange occurrence in this family.' 

Blue huffed, clearly not pleased with his answer. 

Owen had overheard her and grandma Maura talking about …tree people? earlier, and wondered if whatever happened to Celeste had happened to someone else. Wondered if they knew more then they were letting on. 

'Right, well, we know what happened from Owens point of view. But Celeste,'

Gansey turns in his seat to glance at her, smiling softly and radiating friendliness,  
'What about you? What happened after the… dream? And how did you find the woods?' 

Fiddling nervously with her hands, she looked down and gnawed on her bottom lip. 

'Celeste?' Gansey prompted, exchanging looks with Adam beside him.

She took a deep breath, raising her head to stare directly in Owens direction, 

'We weren't dreaming.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> So,,, I wrote the first part of this chapter, completely forgetting about blues dad and the tree business...my idea wasn't as original as I had thought 😂 but this challenge is to write without a plan and as I go along sooo....stay tuned to see how this story turns out (because have no clue) and how I change Celeste from Blues dad! 😂🖤


	3. A tree baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Thanks to a comment someone left, it was brought to my attention my tenses were a bit all over the place! Hopefully this one is better then the last, and I will go back and edit the first two chapters another time. For now, have the weird, wacky chapter 3! 
> 
> \- Siobhan xx

Celeste was tired. She was tired, and hungry, and   
scared and confused. 

She couldn't remember anything. Except her name. 

She knew that this should worry her more then it did, but somehow her memories didn't seem like the most important thing right now. 

Waking up in a dark, cold, cramped space with no recollection of anything, was terrifying in itself. 

To find out that place was a tree in a magical forest was much, much worse. 

The moment Owen had disappeared, she felt any hope or relief drain from her body, and tried to find a way out of the woods. In the pitch black with tear filled eyes, she didn't notice that she was near the edge of the forest, she just decided on a direction and began walking. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one. 

She walked and walked and walked, but didn't see anything other then the same towering trees that tangled together, trapping her. 

It was clear from the start that this was no ordinary forest, but the way it moved as though guiding her deeper into it, seemed to emphasise that. 

The trees whispered to her, the wind pushed and lead her. She let it.

As though stuck in a trance, she walked and walked and walked. Round and round and round, studying every tree, every creature, every flower. 

Something about it was hypnotising. Something about it was terrifying. 

As though the grass twirled around her ankles and the branches gated off pathways, she wondered if she really was trapped. 

'dont be silly,' she chastised herself.   
The forest was strange. It was magical. But it couldn't trap her. How could it? She could leave at any moment she wanted too, she was sure of it. 

The sun went down, and came up, and went down, came up, but she chose to stay there. 

Right? This was her decision. Wasn't it? 

The whispers stopped, the wind stilled, the woods became silent. 

There was a bush. 

At first glance, it was just an ordinary bush. Tall, green, and leafy. Normal. 

But it wasn't. 

It was a doorway. A doorway to somewhere safe, somewhere beautiful. Somewhere she wanted to be. 

She stepped closer, and felt the humm in her veins grow stronger. 

This was it. This was where the forest was taking her. Where she was supposed to be. 

Another whisper. This time, it wasn't the trees. It was…something else. 

Someone else. 

It urged her backwards. Begged. Pleaded. Demanded. 

She stepped back. 

Something about the voice, the raspy vibrations that made her shiver in fear, told her something was strange. Odd. 

Wasn't everything? Within the past couple days everything she had experienced, everything she had felt, could only be described as strange. Odd.

 

The whispers got angrier. Stronger. Scarier. 

The wind pushed her forwards, fighting against the voices, and her feet shuffled beneath her. The branches poked and prodded her, moving her closer to the entry. 

'stop!' she begged. She wasn't sure what she was talking too. But something was there. And she would fight them if she had too. 

The problem, though, is that it's hard to fight against nature. Against an entire forest. Against something so much stronger then her. So much more. 

'stop it! No! No!' she pushed against the trees, that somehow moved fluidly. She pushed against the entire world that was standing against her. 

And she lost. 

Her feet was swiped from beneath her, and she fell backward. Her body burst through the bush, and she collided with the soft comforting ground that lay on the other side. 

She wasn't the only one who entered. 

Entered where? She wasn't sure. Just that this was somewhere, and not the somewhere she had been only moments before. 

Dread filled her stomach and she leaped back out, arms up ready to fight again.

She didn't have too.

The forest had settled, looking almost normal. She wasn't fooled. 

Stumbling through the woods, the cold air freezing her limbs and drying her eyes, she thought. 

Thought of why it wanted her to go there so desperately. Why it let her go as soon as she did. What it was. Where she was. Who she was.

Too many questions. Not enough answers. 

Again, she walked and walked and walked. 

Before now, she hadn't noticed her dry throat, or rumbling stomach. Hadn't noticed the blisters on her feet and shaky hands. 

Now, it was all she noticed. 

She needed water. She needed food. She needed a jacket. She needed to know…everything. Because right now, she knew nothing. 

She didn't like knowing nothing. 

Wobbly, she stumbled through the forest until she found the familiar tree. The spot that she awoke. The spot she met Owen. 

Owen. 

She didn't know him, not really. And yet, without her memories, he was the only one she knew. 

How had he disappeared? Where was he now? 

Question after question after question. 

It was starting to piss her off, truth be told. 

Sinking against the trunk, she wrapped her arms around her knees and let her head drop. 

She wasn't just pissed. She was upset. She was frightened. She was everything bad and didn't know what to do about it. 

That's when the tears started. Once they started, they didn't stop.

Tear after tear after tear, she wondered how she had any left. 

The cold made her aching limbs throb and burn, and excruciating pain numbed her entire being. 

She had cried enough. It was time to fix this, and time to find somewhere safe. 

Pulling herself to her feet, she turned around, and felt her heart thud when she saw him. 

Oh fuck. 

His tall frame, the frown upon his stubbled face, his giant muscles and fierce glare.   
The first thought that ran through Celeste's head was, he's a serial killer. 

Considering the magical-ness that she had experienced, she was slightly comforted by the idea of it being human and normal. Real. 

Key word being slightly. 

When they had locked gazes she immediately noticed the way his posture relaxed and his face softened. 

Still could be a murderer, she thought. 

She didn't know how, or why, but she knew stranger danger. Knew that this probably wasn't a good idea.

But his jacket was warm and he looked friendly now, and the idea of a nice barn sheltered from the rain was too compelling. 

At least if he kills her, she won't care. It's not like there's a life she's leaving behind. Or at least, not one she can remember anyway. 

 

\----

'wait wait wait, hold up. You're telling me you've been in woodhaven since that night? That whole time?' 

Celeste eyed Owen curiously, 'woodhaven?' she asked. 

He waved his hand in a dissmisive gesture, 'yeah, the woods. Forest. Whatever.' 

She nodded. 

'And you went into cabeswater, but came straight back out again?' 

She looked at him in the same way, and before she could ask Noah leaned forward and whispered, 'behind the bush' in her ear. 

She nodded again.

Owen continued firing questions, unperturbed, whilst the others sat behind listening. Thinking. 

After numerous attempts to get her to answer questions she didn't have an answer too, Owen flopped backward and sprawled out on the floor, releasing a giant sigh. 

'what.the.fuck.is.going.on' 

Celeste peered over him, watching him squirm and wiggle on the floor. 

'i think, that you're becoming a worm. You're final form. Finally evolving, I see.' She answered. 

He stopped moving, and angled his head to look in her direction, 

'this is my thinking-thing. It's how I think. Don't mock the process.' 

'of course not,' she adjusted her glasses, 'it looks very productive. Tell me, is it your gangly limbs bumping into all of our feet that makes the juices flow, or the carpet burn on your neck?' 

Defeated, he sat up, 'ya know, don't beat it till you try it. It really does work!' 

Celeste glanced between him and the miniscule space next to him, and in a split second decision, ploped down next to him. 

Owen looked taken aback, for only a moment, before nodding once and falling backwards again, using his hand to pull her back with him. 

The two layed there, arm against arm, and seeing the faces of the others staring at them from above. 

She had forgotten they weren't the only two in the room. It had only been a few hours, but she felt much more comfortable around this strange family then she had before. Liked them, even.

Owen started wriggling against her again, 'now, worm.' he instructed. 

She followed his lead, and clumsily moved around. Their elbows, their knees, their heads, they bashed against eachother, but they don't stop. 

They just…keep worming. 

'well,' Ronan said, looking thoroughly amused, 'you two Einstein's figured anything out yet? Or does the worming take longer to work?' 

Celeste stoped and looked towards Owen, eyebrows raised, who quickly answered,   
'hey! This is how I figured out your killer-dream-geese-that-dont-die problem, and you called me a genius.' 

'one, Adam called you a genius, I'm not a liar,' Owen scoffed as Ronan continued, 'and second, I could've thought of that if I wasn't busy stopping Noah trying to pet the damn things.' 

'They looked cute!' Noah interjected 

'honey, they had fangs. And red eyes.' Blue deadpanned.

'uuhhh, what?' questioned Celeste, looking highly concerned. 

They often seemed to forget dream monsters and magical forests weren't normal and talked about them as if they were. 

Gansey opened his mouth, ready to explain, when Ronan shook his head. 

'Thats a story for another day. First, we figure this shit out.' 

 

'So she's like butternut?' Henry guessed.

 

Celeste repeated the phrase over and over in her head, and concluded that she had no idea what that could possibly mean. 

'No,' Maura spoke for the first time In a while, 'she is not.' 

'So what is she then?' he asked, looking at Celeste with the same face he looked at recent pictures of Madonna with: awe, accompanied by a slight grimace.

 

'just a girl,' Celeste interrupted, 'I don't know what happened to me. But I know what I am.' 

Calla clicked her tongue, 'dear, you don't have a clue what you are.' 

Maura looked to her, and the two seemed to agree on something.   
Celeste wanted to know what the something was.

'And you do?' Gansey asked intrigued, his thumb tracing his lip. 

If anyone else had said those words, it would have sounded sceptical, rude, disbelieving.   
But it was clear that Gansey was anything but. 

Calla regarded Celeste, scanning her up and down, 'No. But your aura tells me everything I need to know. You are anything but normal, or Human.' 

Owen turned to her, the same thinking face as his father, 'Well, welcome to the club.' 

'Im not sure I want I join,' she admitted. 

Owen chuckled, 'Dont worry, we serve tea and biscuits and have a very strict no bullying policy.' 

Ronan snorted.

'We have neither of those things,' Adam clarified. 

'We have coffee and cake, which is close enough!' Noah exclaimed.

Celeste looked around this strange group of people, confused but amused.   
She knew she should be scared. Knew that this was only the beginning of whatever it was that was happening, but figured she didn't mind. 

She didn't have any family or friends she remembered to compare them too, yet somehow still knew that they were the best she's ever been around. Knew that they were her friends now. 

And despite everything, that one thought, made her smile. 

 

\---

 

'so, strange tree girl, what do you say to an adventure!?' asked Noah, bouncing on his heels, 

'adventure?' she questioned, and turned to Owen who was staring at the water in his cup with a slight furrow to his brows.

Without looking up, he answered, 'and by adventure he means family outing to the tree womb you were just birthed from,' 

Celeste scrunched up her nose and shook her head, 'please do not word it that way, I've experienced a lot of weird lately but even that…is pushing it.' 

Noah shruged, 'i think it's kinda cool. I mean, you can't get grounded, the tree can't ground you. I mean Dad probably would just so he could make you do chores for him, but you just have to make sad puppy dog eyes and he's a goner. Works every time.' 

'Which dad is this?' Celeste asked, still watching Owen watch the water. 

Noah scoffee, 'Dad-A would never get us to do jobs for him. They're always 'for us to prepare us for the real world', but the puppy dog eyes work on them both. Suckers.' 

'Dont let then hear you Noah,' Owen teased, 'Wouldnt want them to think they're precious Noah isn't so precious after all.' 

'Wait, hold up.' Celeste looked between the two boys, 'you said us. Do they ground Owen too?' 

'Celeste, we don't just have parents. We have four dad's, one mum, loads of witchy grandma's, a retired hitman grandpa, and a crazy saytr sister who always tries to eat our homework.   
So, the parenting isn't exactly normal either.' Owen explained. 

'im beginning to think nothing about you lot is normal,' She replied

'Well, uncle Declan and Matthew are pretty normal!' Noah pointed out,

'Noah, I think your forgetting the part where uncle Matthew came out of Dad R's head.' 

'Shoot,' he slumped in the chair, scratching his head.

Celeste, still watching Owen watch the water, noticed a slight ripple in the cup. Ever so small, but it was there.

The cup never moved. 

Owen immediately pulled his gaze away from the water and slammed the cup down on the table, 

'Come on gang, let's go an adventure.' he announced, marching towards the door.

Noah, obviously used to this, was quick on his heels following out.   
Celeste however, took a moment longer to process, and stumbled getting up from the porch table and scurrying up to the door. 

How does someone with such little legs walk so damn quickly? 

When they went inside, their parents were there, including Henry who Celeste learned was considered a parent too.

'Chop chop oldies, let's go,' Crowed Owen, rocking on his feet, eager to go. 

Ronan, who was zipping up a hoodie, stilled his hand and glared at Owen, 

'Who you calling oldie? I can still whoop your ass at basketball, urchin.'

Owen rolled his eyes, 'because you're a fucking giant and I got cursed to look like an eternal toddler. Thanks for that, by the way, mum' 

Blue looked very pointedly at him, 'what did I say about sassing me?' 

'Dont do it front of the others because I'm so good at it and you're embarrassed?' he joked, darting out if the way from Blues lethal swat as he barked with laughter.

Gansey looked at the two of them fondly and smiled.   
He had a very beautiful smile, Celeste observed. Warm and infectious and pretty. 

Owen had the same one. 

'Right, let's go see this tree womb then,' said Owen, leading the way 

'stop calling it that,' Celeste groaned, biting back a smile. 

'Im calling it a tree womb and you can't stop me, tree baby.' 

'Oh yes I can,' she challenged, striking an exaggerated fighting pose

Owen goes to respond, but had to tilt his head to meet her eyes as she stepped closer, 'on second thought, yes you can. But you'll have to catch me first!' 

And with that, they took off running. 

 

\---

 

Despite having strides three times the size of Owens, she struggled to keep up with him as he swiftly moved and doged through the trees. 

He was agile, his lithe body moving in a blur. 

Celeste on the other hand, was anything but. She crashed into low hanging twigs, tripped and stumbled over raised tree roots and rocks. 

As hard as it was, with the wind hitting against her face and the sunlight shining, with the sound of Owens joyous laughter and taunts at his victory, she felt happiness flood her veins. 

Felt an electricity of excitement and thrill crackle through every inch of her body. 

Celeste had no memories, and knew that if she couldn't retrieve them, she would just have to make new ones.   
This was one she was glad to have.

Perhaps she was being too calm, perhaps she should not be enjoying this in the midst of everything that's going on, but she didn't care. 

The humm of the forest, Owens cackle, was like a drug. And she was addicted. 

Drinking in every detail of this moment, though, distracted Celeste for long enough that she didn't notice a large rock. Her foot struck it and she lost her balance, colliding face first into the dirt.

She had been very accquanted with the forest floor. She really needed to stop falling over. 

A groan escaped her as a sharp pain shot through her arm where it had been sliced by a twig.

'celeste?' Owen called, stopping and running back towards her.

A few moments later, a panting and sweaty Owen with hair sticking in every direction, peered down at her and grimaced. 

'uh, you okay there, sport?' 

A chuckle escaped her as she sat up, clutching her bleeding arm,   
'I think you won this round,' 

He crouched down and touched the cut delicately with his fingers,  
'does it hurt?' 

'Nah' she lied. 

He raised a questioning brow and cocks his head to the side like a puppy,  
'why don't I believe you?' 

Celeste stood up and looked down at him, still crouched on the floor,   
'i dunno, dude, but I feel great! Come on, let's find the others,' 

He goes to protest, but Noah appeared and called out,  
'I FOUND THEM!' before skipping over.

The others shortly appeared behind him, Blue walking hand in hand with Gansey, as Henry blabbered on about something to Ronan who looked visibly displeased and Adam smirked from beside him. 

'Look, Ronan, i'm just saying, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's totally cute too -' 

'Cheng!' Ronan snapped, 'if you don't shut your mouth I swear to the fucking god of everything holy I will kick your ass.' 

Owen stood up, brushing a stray piece of hair out of his eyes,  
'totally cute to do what?' 

Henry goes to speak when Ronan slapped his hand over his mouth and glared at him.

Smirking, Adam shuffled forward,  
'Gansey caught Ronan speaking to the cows in his baby voice.' 

Ronan swiveled round and pointed an accusatory finger at him,   
'you fucking traitor.' 

'Awwe, who's a cute girl? You are, yes you are,' Blue mocked in a horrible high voice. 

Ronan huffed and crossed his arms,   
'i do not sound like that,' 

Owen grinned,  
'Well, as amusing as this all is, we totally passed the tree. Let's go!' 

'youre bleeding!' Noah interrupted, eyeing the cut on Celeste's arm. 

Everyone stopped and swivelled round to face her,

'its nothing,' she brushes off, and sets off beside Owen. 

Turns out, Owen and Celeste had run further then they thought into the woods, and it took a long walk back before the reached the tree at the edge of woodhaven. 

Once they arrived, they all stopped and stood around it, staring. 

'it just looks like a tree.' said Ronan.

But it wasn't. 

The others continued talking, inspecting the wood, but Celeste stay silent. Stay still.

Their words were lost before they reached her ears. Her mind, her body, her will, was snatched and stolen. 

It whispered to her. She took a step forward, and placed a palm against the bark. 

The palm, that was coated in blood from the cut on her arm, and covered the bark in it.

The blood turned hot. Scorching.   
The bark sizzled and bubbled beneath her hand as it melted and molded into something different. Something strange. 

Inch by inch, the entire tree morphed and melted and turned. Distantly, she could hear voices. Could feel someone tugging on her arm. 

But she was hypnotised. 

It's whispers, it's pleas, invaded her mind and she was it's servant. 

Until she wasn't. 

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, she was yanked backwards, her hand pulled away from the tree as she tumbled backwards into someone. 

Adam. He had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her away. 

The tree was no longer whispering. No longer asking.

It was screaming. Yelling.   
It was angry and terrifying. 

The strength of its voice was too much to bear and Celeste screamed.   
Her hands flew up to her ears and she covered them, trying desperately to drown them out. 

They were so loud her head hurt, her ears rang, her chest thumped.

She screamed and she screamed and she begged for it to stop. 

She wriggled and writhed with the pain it inflicted, she curled and shied from the fear of it's fury, and she cried and shook knowing she was under its control. 

She buried her head into Adams chest as he held her, her hands pushing harder and harder into her ears.

The voice was no longer a voice, but voices. 

It was no longer yelling at her, but at someone else. 

Fighting. Arguing.

She felt the wind pick up around her. 

She knew who's voice it was.

Opening her eyes, she looked towards Owen through blurry eyes filled with tears, and watched as the world moved around him. 

Watched as the trees moved and listened to his command. 

And with a flick if his wrist, it stopped. 

The pain, the screaming, all stopped.  
All except the fear that was drowning her. 

As the twigs and the rocks fell back to their place, Owen turned towards Celeste and let out a relieved sigh. 

He hurried towards her, and gently pulled the trembling hands over her ears away.

Small droplets of blood trickled out of her ears.

He kept hold of her hands, even when they had come to rest in her lap, and looked her in her eyes.

They were filled with fear.

'Its okay,' he said, 'you're okay now.' 

She nodded weakly, and peered around him to look at the tree. There was a hand print, burned into the bark.   
Coming out of it, looked like lighting bolts, looked like cracks, and they travelled around the entire tree.

What did she do? 

'What the fuck?' Ronan gasped, and Celeste only just noticed the way the others were all staring at her and Owen.  
They had hid behind other trees, shielding themselves from … whatever it was Owen could do.

Owens eyed stayed glued to Celeste's as he spoke, 'We should get back to the house.' 

No one answered, and no one moved. 

Her beating heart sounded like horses hooves crashing against the ground, and her breaths still shook. 

'He's right,' said Adam, the silence finally broken. He stood up, pulling Celeste up with him.

She wobbled on her legs, and his hands came to hold her steady.   
She could feel Owens worried glance burning through the back of her skull. 

Slowly, one by one, they all began moving and walking back leaving woodhaven behind them. 

Owen began to wonder if it was really the haven he had always thought it to be. 

Adam helped Celeste walk back, arm rested around her shoulders as she leaned into him and Ronan did the same to Noah who was unusually quiet. 

Owen trailed behind, eyes watching Celeste's every step with the same thoughtful expression as his father.  
The two brought a thumb to their lip at the same time, and had it been in different circumstances, Blue would have laughed and teased them for it.

But not today.

Instead, they all walked back in silence. And yet again, thought to themselves, 

What the fuck was going on?


	4. Who is Celeste Steelman?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Yay!   
> This challenge is super hard but super fun!   
> Also, I hope my tenses are more consistent but let me know of any and all missed mistakes!   
> Thanks for listening   
> \- Siobhán xx 💓

They were sat on hay bales in the barn, the soft sounds of the cows filling the space. 

Adam and Gansey entered, carrying a tray of hot chocolates that they passed around. Owen noticed the slight shake to Celestes hands as she took a mug from Adam. 

It was his idea to sit in the barns. It was a comforting place for him, somewhere he often went too when he needed cheering up, usually accompanied by Noah. And after the events of the day, he figured they all needed somewhere like that. 

He wasn't ready. He wasn't ready to tell them, to share this part of him. It wasn't a secret, he just wanted to understand it himself before he had to make them understand it too. 

But what he wanted wasn't a priority right now. There was something in Woodhaven, something dark and dangerous and they had to stop it. 

'So, who's gonna start talking first, then?' said Blue, taking a sip from her mug. 

Celeste and Owen both looked to eachother at the same time, somehow arguing with their eyes. 

Thankfully, this was something he was a pro at, and it wasn't long before Celeste sighed and put her mug on the floor beside her feet.

'Victory!' he thought smugly

'uh, well, the trees, well only some of them really, but they...i mean they, like,' 

'You know,' Ronan cut in, 'You've said a lot of words, but not actually said anything.' 

'Ignore him, take your time.' said Adam looking at her calmly as Ronan rolled his eyes beside him. 

'this is the second time you've betrayed me like this today, I think I want a divorce.' Ronan joked, 

Adam snorted, 'And not get to annoy me every day? How will I cope?' 

They smiled and leaned closer to eachother as Noah watched them happily. 

Celeste broke a smile and seemed to relax just a fraction, 

'The trees talked to me, again. But at first it was like last time. At first they were calm and... kind? But then...I don't know. I couldn't understand, and they just got so angry. They sounded…different?' 

Owen fiddled with his hands and spun the ring on his finger, a nervous tick of his that Gansey noticed immediately. 

'What is it, Owen?' he prompted. 

They turned their attention from Celeste to him, and he took a deep breath, 

'They didn't just sound different. They were different.' 

'An explanation would be nice,' said Noah after a few beats of silence. 

'look, it's hard to explain. But the trees, they're like cabeswater, atleast they are too me. They're...more. But something is different, like, in a bad way. I can't talk to them, not really. But I can sort of, feel them. And when Celeste was…ya know…all I could feel was just... Bad.' 

They seemed to ponder over this for a while. 

'You can communicate with them.' corrected Celeste. 

'Well, sort of -

'No. You can. I…I could hear. I can hear them. Like I said, I can't always understand. It's like when you're in a crowded room, and all the voices just blur together. But then I heard your voice. You told them to stop. And they did.' 

Owen was confused, everytime more information was told the more confusing it all got. He wanted them to stop. Wanted them to stop hurting Celeste, but he didn't tell them too. Or, maybe he did. 

'Owen, what did you do when you were…talking to them? With the rocks and stuff.' asked Noah. 

'uhhh, good question. If I find out, I'll get back to you on that.' 

'You can control nature.' Blue answered flatly. 

'He can?' gasped Celeste

'I can?' He echoed

Blue and Gansey looked at eachother, and gansey gave a slight nod. 

'We've know since you were a baby.' she continued.

'You have!?' Ronan and Owen barked at the same time. 

'Before you all have a tantrum that we didn't tell you, we wanted too! But mum and Calla said something about the cards and how we weren't supposed too. That he had to figure things out on his own. ' 

'So how did you know?' said Adam.

'Just after he was born crazy things started happening. The water exploding from the taps, hundreds of butterfly's swarming the house, grass growing up to his windows, you name it. You two were so busy with the paperwork and legal stuff for Noah that we thought we'd wait to tell you, you were both so stressed already. But then mum came round, gave him some disgusting tea that smelled like dirt, and told us not to tell anyone. Even him. The next day, it all stopped, and we haven't brought it up since.' 

'Holy shit' Owen mumbled

'I don't know why you're suprised dude, you've been moving water and shit for months. It was kinda obvious.' shrugged Noah. 

Owen playfully pushed his shoulder as Ronan kindly glared at his son.  
'So the kids been messing with superpowers for months and you never thought to tell us? What happened to 'id never lie to you dads'!' 

Noah shrugged again, 'i didn't lie. I just didn't say anything.'

Henry chuckled, 'Thats what happens when he has two sly dad's. Your own faults, really.' 

Adam went to retort but was cut off by Celeste,   
'So is Woodhaven like this Cabeswater then?' 

'No way,' said Ronan at the same time Adam said, 'Maybe.' 

'i agree with Adam,' announced Gansey. 

'Good for you, Gans. Doesn't mean you fuckheads are right.' 

Owen agreed. And yet somehow disagreed, too. It was and it wasn't. 

'They both have weird talking trees. They both look a little too beautiful. You pull things from it in your head, Owen pulls people from its trees. You gotta admit, it's pretty similar. They're both extremely fucking weird' analysed Henry. 

Rona shook his head again in disagreement. 

'Why did woodhaven want me in Cabeswater?' Celeste asked. 

Owen, drowning in his thoughts, was pulled above water by the sound of her voice.

'I mean, it forced me in. And the second I was, it let me go again. Why?' 

'Surely the tree you came out of with no memories that you then burned a handprint into should be the topic of discussion here?' suggested Blue.

'No,' Owen blurted, the word escaping his mouth.

'No?' 

Owen shook his head, 'No, she's right. This isn't just about the weird tree, or woodhaven. This must be about Cabeswater too.' 

Ronan audibly groaned, 'Jesus. I love that place, but fucking hell does it have it's baggage. What's wrong with it now?' 

'Guess we'll have to find out.' Gansey said, looking at Owen thoughtfully. 

Owen nodded in return. They had a lot to find out. Answers to seek. Problems to solve. He just wondered, was this more dangerous then they thought it was. And would they all make it through this alive. Because deep down, something told Owen they wouldn't. 

\---

Celeste couldn't sleep. Tossing and turning, she tried to drown out the horrible screeches that replayed in her mind over and over and over. It was more then just sound, though. It was all the feelings that came with it.

The pain, the fear. 

Eventually, she gave up, and decided she needed water. She didn't know what time it was, but it was still dark, so she tiptoed quietly down the stairs. 

Nudging up her glasses, she yawned and waddled into the kitchen where Ronan stood. She considered running back out before he noticed, not wanting to get in his way, but he'd seen her come in, in the reflection of the toaster. 

Back still to Celeste, he talked over his shoulder,   
'where ya going? I won't bite.' 

She stopped walking backwards and tensed as she heard his voice. 

Pulling a piece of toast out of the toaster, he bit into it and turned around. 

'sorry,' she averted her eyes from his and slumped into the chair opposite the counter. 

'Toast?' he offered, handing his other slice to her. 

Celeste shook her head and muttered thanks. 

'You don't look like a farmer at all. Or a dad, for that matter.' she observed, eyeing his black ripped worn jeans and tattered Harvard T-Shirt that was clearly years old and much too small. 

Ronan only shrugged in return, eyeing her in the same way and wolfing down the toast. 

'what?' she asked, shifting self consciously in her seat. 

He shook his head a little and looked down with an expression she can't quite decipher, 

'ya know, it was just days ago when I found you shaking and crying and refusing to speak a single word…no matter how fucking much I tried. And, I don't know, its nice to see you come out of your shell.' 

Celeste was shocked, not expecting that at all. Although, she understood, she had thought about it herself. Thought about how quickly she brushed over all of the crazy things happening to her, how quickly she felt comfortable around this crazy family. But, even if she shouldn't, in the small moments of calm and fun they shared, she enjoyed herself. Being with them felt natural, felt right. Like a puzzle piece fitting into place. 

 

'Oh, well, yeah. I mean, I like you guys. I like it here.' 

Ronan snorted, 'The crazy fucked up people that found you in a crazy fucked magical forest?' 

Celeste couldn't help the smile that snuck onto her face, 'Yup. I think the craziness just adds a little pizzazz…ya know?' 

'pizzazz?' Ronan repeats, 'well, that's one way to describe it. Personally I would have gone with fucking insan-' 

'Mornin' Adam interrupted, walking into the kitchen sleepily. Ronan poured him a cup of coffee as Adam ploped down onto the seat next to her. 

He turned and smiled at her gently, radiating friendliness. 

'Morning!' she chirped, grinning back at him. 

She liked the craziness, she did. But mornings like these, having breakfast while Ronan and Adam bickered and talked, so relaxed and normal, was nice. 

It was nice when Noah came in too, it was nice when the four of them sat there and talked about nonsense, it was nice when Noah and her got into play fight that Ronan and Adam laughed at. 

They told her about their adventures, Noah chiming in clearly knowing the stories well. They told her about Opal, and how she was travelling the world. 

She found it funny to think about, a saytr girl who liked to eat metal, just roaming the world, out in the open. Apparently, she was with Ronan's brother, Matthew. They wanted to take Chainsaw too but figured that wouldn't go down with airport security very well. 

She wished she could listen to their stories forever. Wished she could stay. But the feeling in the pit of her stomach, the feeling that told her the craziness was going to turn dangerous, told her that she couldn't. Or shouldn't. 

 

___

 

Owen was worming. The laminate flooring was cold on his arms and very uncomfortable. But, he needed to figure things out. Everything out. He needed to figure out what it was he needed to figure out first...he was going to be worming a long time, he thought with a sigh. 

He was interrupted, though, as grandad Grey walked in, steps slightly heavier and faster then normal. 

Uh oh. 

Owen springed to his feet,'What? What is it?' 

Grey kept going past Owen, walking through the house to find Blue and Gansey. 

Owen scurried behind, keeping up and itching to find out what was wrong. 

Blue sat in the back garden, sewing some new crazy clothes for herself as Gansey sat beside her, book in his lap. The sun shone above them, and Grey almost felt guilty ruining their peace like this. 

But their heads snapped up at the sound of the backdoor opening, and they watched the two walk out towards them. 

'i have a feeling this isn't just a pleasant visit' said Gansey, getting up to greet Grey. 

Grey responded by pulling a phone from his pocket, and began tapping away.   
The three stood there, anxious and curious, desperate to know what it was he was doing. 

Just as Owen felt his patience thinning, he flipped the phone around to show the screen. 

'i - I don't understand. What -' blabbered blue as she read. Gansey was silent, thinking. 

Owen didn't know what he was doing. He was thinking, but he was…feeling. Feeling confused, worried, frustrated.

'Come on, were going to talk to her now.'   
Owen marched towards the house

'Owen, just slow down a second,' said Gansey 

'Dad, there's no time to slow down. Every second this whole situation gets more confusing and more complicated and we have to unravel some of the knots before there's too many all tied too tight.' 

He wasn't sure if he was even making sense, too focused on putting his shoes on as quickly as he could, before yelling for Henry and dragging them all to Grey's car and speeding to the barns. 

Celeste had some explaining to do.

 

\--- 

 

They heard the slamming of car doors, and Noah jumped up to look out the window. Coming up the drive was Owen, his parents, and Grey. Celeste was happy to see Owen again, enjoying his company, and skipped to the door to open it for them. 

'Good Morning!' she exclaimed, waving cheerfully at Owen. 

He ignored her, walking straight into the house and brushing past her. The smile dropped of her face and she awkwardly closed the door behind them. 

'Living room, now!' Owen called, bouncing his leg up and down as they slowly trickled in and sat down. 

'Who pissed in your cereal this morning, kid?' Ronan asked Owen, recieving a roll of the eyes in return. 

The room fell silent, and Owen stood up from where he leant against the wall and walked towards Celeste. 

'Whats your name?' he demanded. 

Celeste was confused, looking at him as though he'd grown a third head,'Owen, you already know my na-' 

'What. Is. Your. Name.'

'Celeste Steelman, Owen, what is this all about?' 

'Stop lying.' he spits. 

Celeste looked towards the others for help, and Adam quickly came to her aid, 

'Owen, calm down, and explain.' 

He didnt move, still towering over her where she sat and glaring. Annoyed, she stood up, forcing him to take a step back and losing the intimidating stance he had over her, 

'I don't know what the hell is wrong with you right now,' she crossed her arms, 'so care to explain?'

He turned and looked toward Grey, who looked to her calmly,   
'All you knew was your name, so I figured that's where the focus needed to be. For me, at least. I've had experience finding people, and finding things out about people. So doing it for you was extremely easy.   
And what I've found out about you, miss Steelman, is that's not your name at all.  
There's been 6 Celeste steelmans recorded in the last 80 years. The last one died 16 years ago, and there hasn't been one since.' 

There was a baffled silence, and she could feel Owen watching her. 

'jesus, is that it?' Ronan asked, looking fed up, 'she lost all her fucking memories, it's not that unlikely she forgot her real fucking name too.' 

'besides,' Adam added, 'she did come out of a tree…' 

'No!' Celeste shouted, 'it is my name! I haven't forgotten, or got it wrong. I don't care what your stupid record things say, I KNOW that Celeste Steelman is my name. It's the only thing I DO know!' 

She knew. She didn't know how, but she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that was her name. 

'its not-' Owen began, but Celeste turned to him angrily,

'just because I'm not on there,' she pointed towards the phone Grey held out, 'you think I'm lying? Of all the crazy things that have happened, do you really think that this being my real name is that implausible?' 

Owen backed down slightly, looking at her closely and and seemingly lost in thought. 

He was lost in thought a lot, she noticed. She liked how whenever he was, his jaw sharpened as he tensed it subconsciously, and narrowed his eyes, always looking as though he's angry at the floor or the cushion his eyes got caught on. 

 

Grey was about to put the phone away, when she reached out to stop him. She wanted to see too. 

'the others. Show me the others.' she muttered. 

He pulled the information back up, and handed her the phone. 

5 names. All the same. She scrolled through, and she wondered how he hadn't noticed. 

5 names. All the same.   
5 people. Dead at the same age.  
Born right after the other. 

'you noticed.' he observed. 

Oh, maybe he did. 

'noticed what?' Owen looked between them confused. 

 

'5 Celeste Steelmans. All born right after eachother. All dead at 16.' 

Owen swiped the phone from her hand, ignoring her jabs to give it back. 

'I'm so confused,' Noah whispered to Ronan, who replied,   
'me too, kid. Me too,' 

 

Owen began reading from the phone,

'Celeste Steelman, born 1923 in Malvern Hills, dead in 1939. 

Celeste Steelman, born 1939 in Fort Lauderdale, dead in 1955. 

Celeste Steelman, born 1955 in Parika, dead 1971. 

Celeste Steelman, born 1971 in New Orleans, dead in 1987. 

Celeste Steelman, born 1987 in Omsk oblast, dead in 2003.' 

'jesus,' Gansey interrupts, 'they're all on ley lines. Where did they die?' 

'Same places,' Owen answered as he scrolled through the information on the phone, 'all suicides. Died nearby their homes, or in them. Wait, holy fuck,' 

'what!? What is it?' Celeste screeched, struggling to process all of this

Owen looked up to Grey, 'are you sure this is accurate? I mean, this all dates back a long time, how did - I mean…are you sure?' 

Grey looked Owen straight in the eyes, 'I wouldn't have shown you if I wasn't sure.' 

'what, Owen?' Celeste asked again, her patience getting thinner and thinner

'They were all, I mean, none of them were born into families. They were all…found, or adopted.   
A newspaper dated 1939 headlines Edward and Amelia Steelman found an abandoned baby on a walk in 1923, and they couldn't find the real parents. They decided to adopt the baby and named her Celeste.   
However in 1939, the parents reported a missing persons report, and the body of Celeste Steelman was found hanging from a tree nearby where they found her 16 years before.' 

Silence descended over the room, and Celeste began to feel nauseous. 

'But how does a baby born in Parika, Guyana, get the name Celeste Steelman?' Adam inquired, raising a brow. 

'I asked the same question,' Grey starts, 'i found medical records for Celeste Steelman, born 1987. She was admitted by her adopted parents after claims of hearing voices when she went outside, and insisting her name was Celeste Steelman. She was released after a year, though, after they put her on various medications. Just days after her 16th birthday, she changed her name legally to Celeste Steelman, and immediately after, she killed herself. I can only assume this is what happened to the others.' 

'jesus,' Henry sighed, 'this is a lot of information in one go.' 

Owen turned his attention from Grey to Celeste, who looked pale and shaky. 

 

'what does this even mean? That all of these girls are the same girl?' Blue asked

 

'There are photographs. None of the girls in the photographs are of the Celeste Steelman standing before us.' Grey spoke slowly. 

 

Celeste couldn't understand this, couldn't understand any of it. All she knew was Celeste Steelman is her name. But was it theirs too?   
She reached her hand out and took the phone silently from his grip. 

'The photos,' Celeste scanned and scrolled through the information, 'Where are they?' 

Grey moved towards her, peering over her shoulder to see the screen in her hands and pressed a few things. Before she could prepare herself, faces popped up on the screen, and with them, their memories. 

Her memories.  
Theirs, hers, one and the same. 

The phone fell from her grasp, and she's no longer looking into the blue eyes of a petite russian girl, but looking through them.   
Looking at a house she wasn't in, at a family that wasn't hers; atleast not anymore. 

Their lives, their homes, their families, all flashed before her eyes. She was skinny and she was large, she was short and she was tall, she was brown and she was white, she was blonde and she was brunette. 

She relived every life she ever lived, and died every death they did. She felt the sharp pain of the metal against her wrist, she felt the coarse graze of the rope around her neck, the empty pill bottle fall from her lifeless hand. 

And she felt her soul leaving the bodies behind. Felt her strength and her power be handed over to someone else, felt the fear and control they had over her for the past 80 years. The same fear and control she felt in woodhaven. The same bloodcurdling, raspy voice. 

The memories, as well as the feelings and thoughts that came with them, was too much for Celeste to bear and the floor spun beneath her feet. Her knees buckled, and before she hit the floor, she finally looked through her own eyes, and saw Owen lunge towards her with his arms stretched out. 

And despite everything running through her mind, the thought that stuck with her as she let her mind slip away, was:

did he catch her?


	5. chthonian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have NO idea whats even happening,,,and ive only edited this once so will double check it tomorrow when I am less sleep deprived lol. Anyway,,, enjoy? I guess?

Voices, footsteps, concerned glances and curious questioned swirled and suffocated Owen.

Ronan, walking down the stairs he had just carried Celeste's limp body up. Adam, staring at the same cards he had been staring at for days. His mother, interrogating grey, his father's, murmuring theories, it was all wrong and it was all too much and he needed to breathe. He couldn't breathe. 

A passing touch, a gentle prod, and Owen forced his head to turn. Noah looked down at him, blank expression, and took his wrist pulling him up.  
Noah dragged Owen to the porch, the voices and the noises all slowly getting quieter, getting less clear, just like the situation they were in.  
They didn't talk. And for that, Owen was glad. He was met by the familiar sound the barns outside offered, and felt some tension drain from his limbs. His clenched jaw, clenched fist, hunched shoulders; he let the sounds of the trees swaying in the wind, and the birds singing relax his body. 

But only slightly. 

Owen wasn't speaking, and wasn't planning on doing so, until he felt Noah’s stare refusing to leave him. He fidgeted, he turned away from it, but it was something Noah had picked up from his dad's, and it held the same power. 

Owen gave in. 

'I'm supposed to figure this out, but I don't know how I'm supposed to.' 

Noah nodded, 'I don't think anyone knows how. But you will. You always do.'

'And what if I don't?'

'You will.' Noah reassured 

'But what if I don't, Noah? What if…i mean, I don’t even know what the worst case scenario is! I don't know what it is we should be afraid of, or trying to defeat. I don't know anything!'

'Nothing, huh?' Noah asked, unconvinced, 'well, we know that woodhaven is in a funk. We know cabeswater is somehow related. So we know the where.  
When? Well, now, duh.  
What? We don't know that for certain, but I have a feeling that's where Celeste comes in. And we know that whatever it is, is not targeting us, it's targeting her.  
Who? Celeste, I guess. I don't know if this bad thing is a who or a what…yet.  
Why? Okay, that we don't know anything about…yet.'

Owen stared blankly at Noah, 'that's basically nothing, just with a lot more unnecessary words, dude. None of that is helpful.'

'Well, Celeste is. Or, will be, when she wakes up.'

'So what do we do now? In the meantime? Worm?' 

'I'm not sure that's as helpful as you think it is.' 

Owen sighed, defeated. 

They stared out at the barns, Noah allowing Owen to wallow in self-pity for a couple of moments, before prodding him in the ribs again. 

Owen raised his eyebrows and his head from his hands,

'Soooooooo,' Noah grinned, 'Celeste, huh?' 

Owen frowned, 'huh?'

'Come on, I know you think she's pretty.'

Owen blushed and sputtered, 'what? No! Why - why would you even think that? I don't, she’s not, I mean she is, but I don't...'

Noah grinned even wider, 'uh huh, I've seen the way you ogle at her when you think no one is looking.'

'I - I do not ogle!' He defended. 

'Uh huh, sureeeeee'

'Look,' Owen spoke, glancing at the door behind them nervously, 'yeah, I mean…she's...pretty, but, I barely know her.'

Noah shrugged, 'So get to know her.'

'It’s not that easy, bro.' 

'Of course it is. You're just being a scaredy cat. And no, don't look at me like that…stop it! Shush, don't use all that's going on as an excuse. I mean, isn't scary adventures how our parents got together?'

Owen groaned, 'Jesus Noah, I just admit I think she's cute and now you're comparing us to our parents!?'

'Yup. I better be the best man at your wedding.'

Owen groaned again, shoving Noah's shoulder, 'stoooooop!'

Noah let out a wicked cackle, a sharp and fierce laugh, loud and sudden. It always took Owen by surprise; innocent Noah, with big doe eyes and a friendly smile, having the most evil- sounding laugh. He loved it.  
Owen laughed too, his own so different, so smooth, and almost musical. 

Despite so different, the two meshed together nicely. Like a symphony. But they always knew there was something missing. An instrument needed to complete the symphony. Owen hoped she could be it, but he wasn't sure. Now wasn't the time to figure that out.  
Now wasn't the time to be sat on the porch, laughing maniacally, either. But there they were, gasping for breath, laughing at nothing, grasping onto the feeling of happiness keeping them afloat in the ocean of confusion and danger that was thrashing around them. Eachother, their whole family, we're eachothers lifeboats, always. 

And Owen felt the self pity and self doubt get dragged beneath the waves, get taken and lost within the crashing water, and the lost weight was relieving. His whole body felt lighter, more energised. He felt determined. He felt brave. He felt ready.  
He didn't have the answers. But Noah was right, he would. He would figure this out. He would keep everyone safe. He would keep Celeste alive. And no one, nothing, could stop him. 

…right?

 

_________________________________

 

Celeste shook and shivered beneath the covers. The breath knocked out of her lungs with every death, and with every re-birth she endured. 

She felt her bones growing and growing, her body changing and dying. 

She heard the voices she'd been hearing for the last 80 years grow stronger and stronger, fiercer and sharper. 

She saw ever moment, of every life she had ever lived. She saw every face, every place, and every family she has had to leave behind. 

She smelt the fragrance her mother wore when she hugged her for the last time, and the next mums too, she smelt the soap on her sheets, a different one in every home.

And she tasted the water that accompanied the pills down her throat. She tasted the blood in her mouth. She tasted the dirt and the bugs that devoured her dying corpse, and she tasted every salty tear that had ever streamed down her face, tears before her death, and tears of a baby being reborn, tears of a child not knowing what her future held. 

She tasted life and she tasted death. 

It left a bitter taste in her mouth, 

and a sadness in her heart. 

And a weight around her neck. 

And a stab at her wrists. 

And a pain in her stomach.

And unforgiving memories. 

And a cruel insight into pain she could never forget.

And a job she had to do.

 

_____________________________________

 

As Celeste dragged herself out of the bed, she felt disorientated. It took a moment for her to adjust to what life it was she was living, what body was now hers, but once she did, she grabbed her shoes.  
The clock told her it was 10:30pm, and she figured it had to be the same day, just hours away from the next. Less than two hours to do what she had to do. 

She was running out of time. 

Tiptoeing down the stairs, she remained alert. The house was quiet and dark, and she hoped that everyone was asleep.  
She walked into the living room, knowing she had to cross it to get to the front door, but Owen and Noah lay sprawled across the sofas, whispering. 

'What the fuck? Spiderman is so much cooler then captain America,'

'True. Imagine that, just being able to yeet yourself across building tops' 

'And climb on the ceiling. I bet it's so much easier sneaking midnight snacks without getting caught when you're Spider-Man.'

'Oh, totally.'

They were both facing the ceiling, and theoretically, she could sneak past unnoticed. But this was too important, and that was too risky, so she turned around and headed towards the backdoor. She could still hear their whispers, and she stepped lightly on the tiled floor. 

Turning the handle, she stilled. 

The living room grew quiet, and she heard moving,

'Dude, get up, I think-'

She swung the door open. She ran. 

She knew that she was not faster than them, and how incredibly slow she was, but it was pitch black. Not a single speck of light, with the grey clouds hiding the moonlight.  
She let it guide her towards where she was supposed to go, to help her do what she was supposed to do. 

Something inside of her resisted. Something deep down was slowing her legs beneath her, was desperately trying to drown out its voice penetrating her mind,  
But it wasn't enough.

She kept running. She kept listening. She kept her free will at bay. 

Or rather, it did.  
And she didn't fight back.  
She couldn't. 

 

____________________

 

Owen was yelling. 

'MUM! DAD!' 

Noah was yelling too. Yelling for them, yelling at Owen. 

Because now, Owen was running. 

And the yelling got quieter. 

Until he screamed Celeste’s name. 

He knew the fields like the back of his hand, knew how to get to woodhaven without the light, and knew that's where he had to go.  
With every step closer he got, with every slam of his foot against the ground, he felt a surge shoot through his body.  
Felt his strides get quicker, the woods get closer, and his yelling get louder.  
He felt his panic grow.

'OWEN!'

It wasn't just Noah yelling his name anymore. But that wasn't important. 

He kept running.

Entering the forest, sharp stones sliced his feet, and he slowed to a stop.  
His breathing was heavy, so he held his breath. 

Silence.

In the silence, he heard breathing.

He was still holding his breath. 

Slowly, he let air escape his lips and oxygen enter, trying to focus on where she is.

She's near.

But it's dark. So fucking dark. 

He stepped on a twig. It snapped. Her breathing stopped. So did his.

Silence. 

His throat tightened, his chest burned, and he begged. Breathe, Celeste. Please, just breathe. 

She breathed. 

He followed. 

With every breath she took, he took a step. 

He was getting closer. 

Moving, dirt moving under feet, twigs snapping, 

She wasn't just breathing anymore.

The noises grew louder, and he grew closer. 

The tree. The tree where it all started. The tree where he saw her for the first time. And where he may see her for the last. 

'Celeste' He croaked, her back turned towards him.

The two stand there, still. The breeze rustles the trees, crickets chirp, and they breathe heavily. He savours the sound of her breathes. 

'Celeste,' He pleaded. 

He and Noah were whispering on the sofa. They heard a sound. Then she ran. She ran, and he knew, in that moment, something was happening.  
Something bad. 

Painfully slow, she swivelled around, and part of Owen wished she hasn't. 

She faced him, a sharp, jagged rock in her hand, pressed against her neck. 

'Stop.' He demanded

She didn't move. 

'Put the fucking rock down, Celeste.'

She didn't. 

'I have to.' She mumbled. It was at this moment, he noticed. He noticed the way her eyes seemed cloudy, the way her movements seemed controlled, the way her voice sounded hollow.  
What was he to do now? 

The others had reached them, but stopped, wide eyed when they saw. Stopped, terrified, when they realised. 

'It's not in control of you, Celeste. You don't have to do this.'

'I do.' 

Owen clenched his fists, reaching out for woodhaven. He could control nature, he could control it all, so he could control the rock in her hand. Right? 

He couldn't. It was tainted, the woods already fighting something else. He heard the trees screaming, the air struggling. 

The tree. Owen turned his back on Celeste, despite every bone in his body not wanting too. He stepped towards it, and placed his hand where hers had branded the bark.  
He felt the power radiating from it, and the soul trapped within.  
Woodhaven was battling it, but hurting itself in the crossfire. It needed to be separated, needed its hold on the forest to be removed.  
And it needed Celeste to do so. 

'Stay back!' She warned, as Owen got closer. He could see the others unaware of how to help, watching from the side.  
He didn't need their help, he knew what to do. 

He couldn't remove the rock from her hand completely, his power held at bay by the soul grasping for it. But he didn't need too.  
He pulled the rock towards him, and towards the tree. 

She held onto it, her feet sliding beneath her, her whole body pulling against it.  
His body ached, but still he pulled. He pulled and pulled until he didn't, and the sudden stop made her fall backwards, the rock still clutched in her hand. 

He looked at Noah, and glanced quickly between Celeste and the hand print on the tree. Noah nodded, and quickly came to Owens aid, forcing Celeste off the ground. 

'NO!' She kicked and she screamed, her voice unnaturally deep and raspy, no longer her own. 

Owen grabbed her hand, as Noah held her wriggling body, and slammed it against the mark of her own. 

She screamed. 

Owen let go, but her hand stayed. It sunk further and further into the bark, the wood burning and crumbling beneath it. 

She screamed. And screamed and screamed. 

She screamed, her voice filled with pain and it brought guilty tears to Owens eyes. But she wasn't the only one screaming. 

Her voice, her screams, morphed and tangled with someone else's. 

Something else's. 

The bark continued burning, continued crumbling and snapping and melting and falling apart. It sunk lower and lower, the top no longer metres in the air. It sunk lower and lower, the bubbling, gruesome mass at the bottom growing larger with every inch submerged into it.  
It sunk lower and lower, until Celeste’s hand was freed and fell to the dirt, and all that was left of the tree was the puddle of whatever it had become that lay at her feet. 

Her screams were now whimpers.  
Its screams were now static. 

Noah grasped Celeste under her arms, and yanked her backwards, away from it. She kept crying. Ronan hurried forwards, and helped bring them backwards, but none dared to touch Owen.  
Owen stayed rooted to his spot, fierce and angry. 

The substance moved and wrapped around itself, it pulled itself apart and sprang back together, and it twisted and tangled, and unravelled.  
They watched in shock, until they watched in horror, as it moved and morphed. 

Until it watched them back.

Was is monster? Was it a person? A figure? A shadow?  
Did it matter? It was the enemy. That's all Owen knew. And all he needed too. His obsession with the answers to all the questions life presented him with was burned and gone alongside the tree, and all he cared about was its defeat.  
It endangered his family. It hurt Celeste. 

It had to die.

It stood tall. But not as tall as he expected a monster would. It was tall, but the sort of tall you had seen before, and only warranted a look of surprise, or a second glance.  
It was dark. But not darker then the night sky above them. In a moment of fuzzy concentration, Owen had the fleeting thought that it almost looked like a burnt pizza crust. But figured that wasn't a serious enough description for how serious the situation actually was.  
Or perhaps a child's drawing of slender man, lanky and strange, a shadow with more detail then a shadow warranted. Eerie, but not as eerie as he expected the villain in his story to be.  
Owen couldn't help but feel disappointed. It didn't even look cool. 

Celeste stared at it with a look of both familiarity and terror. She shook, 80 years of tragedy and sacrifice and pain and control standing before her, furious. 

'You!' It snarled at Owen, 'You dare interfere with me?!' 

Owen simply raised his eyebrows, unperturbed. Anger flowed through his veins, and scorched any strand of uncertainty and nervousness to ash. 

'Jeez, who pissed in your cereal this morning?' He said, repeating the phrase he'd heard his family throw around more than once. 

The...thing…snarled once again, baring teeth made of sharp bark and broken stones.  
Celeste whimpered again at the sight, and it snapped its head towards her...bark literally snapping as it did so.  
It lurched towards her and she scrambled back, Ronan and Adam standing tall at her sides, a defensive and protective aura around them. 

'My child,' its arms, twisted branches and crumbling goop, extended to her, 'My dear, why have you failed me?'

She didn't answer. 

'My child, come here.'

She looked at it, as one looks at an angry parent. As one looks at family that has betrayed them, hurt them.  
Underserving obedience, control gained through scare tactics, rather than respect. A child, abused, manipulated and lied too.  
She went to him. 

They tried to stop her, but Owen shook his head. She's had many lives, all ended and destroyed in the same way. By the same person. Or rather, thing.  
But this one, this life, has started differently. Perhaps it can end different, too. 

It brushed her hair out of her face with its finger, its finger made of long branches and sharp thorns. They tear and slice at her skin, and blood drips down her brow.  
No one acknowledges it. 

'My child,' it repeats, 'I forgive you.'

A single tear drops down her cheek and onto it.  
She's no longer a part of it, or rather it is no longer a part of her. Her eyes are as bright and clear as the first time he looked into them. Her movements shaky and free, her voice high and lonely. Hers. 

'Excuse me, asshole,' Owen cuts in, 'But what the fuck?' 

Celeste shakes her head at Owen, pleading with her eyes. 

He ignored her. 

It looked to Owen, fury masking the confusion it really felt.

'She's not your child, you better let her go. Now.' Owen instructed. 

He didn't expect it to listen, but he was still annoyed when it didn't. Stupid tree.  
Instead, it stalks towards Owen, its grasp still on Celeste and ruthlessly drags her with him.  
He towered over Owen, growling, its dirt and grit falling onto Owen and he blinks it from his eyes. 

'Chthonian, don't hurt him.' She begged. 

Chthonian? 

'Boy, what makes you think you can stand against me?'

'Well,' Owen started, 'I guess this,'

Owen threw his left arm towards the air, spreading his fingers from the clenched position they were in. Immediately, it copied his movement, his grasp releasing from Celeste and twigs snapping. 

'And this,' He says, flicking his other hand, making its roots for legs twist and tangle together, knocking it off its feet.  
From where it was before, inside of woodhaven, inside of Celeste, it was protected. It was hidden.  
But now, it stands before Owen. Constructed of nature not tied to anything else, not stealing the power and life from anything or anyone, Owen could control it.  
Owen had control. 

In one swift motion, it pulled its legs apart, and broken pieces of wood flew, stabbing and splintering them.  
He looked towards his dad, and yelled, pointing at Celeste,  
'CABESWATER!' 

He understood, and just as Noah had previously, sprang into motion.  
Gansey grabbed Celeste’s hand, and Noah's, and began running. 

Chthonian reached out to them, his gaze fixated on Celeste, but Owen forced its arms to crash into a nearing tree, splintering his hand.  
Ronan and Henry followed, Ronan in front and Henry behind, guarding them as they raced to Cabeswater.  
Owen didn't see Adam and his mother, but figured they must have followed them too. 

He turned his attention back to it, watching it attempt to ignore Owens control over it.  
Owen could feel its strength, and his body burned. It was getting harder and harder to control, harder to fight it. 

Until it wasn't. 

A hand on his shoulder. His mother. Blue.  
Her powers ignited his own, created another surge that vibrated his entire body and thunder rumbled.  
Lightning flashed over and over, striking chthonian. It roared with pain, it roared with anger, and Owen enjoyed it.  
Owen enjoyed its screams, its struggle, enjoyed the justice he was getting for Celeste. 

Adam, unnoticed by Owen, was still there too. He sat on the ground, wood and stones flying in front of his face, and scryed.  
A puddle of blood sit on the dirt in front of him, thick and dark. Celeste’s blood. 

He stares into it, feeling cabeswater reaching out to him. Feeling the ley like surge, feeling its power directed towards Owen.  
But not all of its power. Some of it, re-directed itself towards Adam, and helped him travel to a place far too dangerous to travel too. But for his family, it was worth it.  
Scrying was unexplainable. Was something so powerful and strange, and Adam had spent a large majority of his life doing so. And yet, decades later, he was still unable to explain it anymore then he could when he was 17.  
But he realised, he didn't need too. Not everything needed an explanation, which was something he struggled to come to terms with. 

All he needed was for this to work. 

_________________________

 

They were running, again. 

Celeste’s legs were burning, and so was her heart. 

They were nearing Cabeswater, and Celeste felt every piece he'd left on her disappear as she entered. 

She knew why woodhaven forced her into it before. She knew why she had to leave Owen behind, even if she didn't want too.  
Cabeswater cut his access to her soul. Inside, she was protected. And he was weaker. 

It, she chastised herself. It's a monster, nothing more.  
You're not its child. It doesn't love you. It hurt you. Now, you must hurt it.  
She must hurt it. No, she must kill it.  
Like it killed her. 

'Celeste, is there anything you now know, that could help us defeat it? Anything from your memories?' Gansey said. 

'What's this fuckers kryptonite?' Ronan supplied. 

'Adam,' was all he replied to Henry's surprised look at the use of 'kryptonite'. 

'He - it, it's a demon. Or, it became one. It lived like the trees in cabeswater, it was never just a tree. It moved across the leyline for centuries, but there's not many greywarens, and so not many people that could listen to it. So, it needed more power.  
When someone dies on the ley line, it gives it power. When someone dies as a sacrifice? Much more power.  
It knew this, so it kept moving, kept drawing power from deaths and stealing it from the ley line. In 1922, he decided to control a single person, and have them sacrifice themselves consistently was the quickest way to gain power. So he, it, used a greywaren to create a child. Then, in 1923 it left a child in the woods to be found.  
It controlled my thoughts, and on every 16th birthday, it convinced me to sacrifice myself for him. And every time i died, he walked my spirit back to his tree, where he joined with the greywaren to put my spirit into a new body, and start the cycle again.'

Henry and Noah stared in silence, unable to absorb what she had just said, but Gansey and Ronan realised there was no time for that. They could be shocked later. 

'Why 16?' Gansey asked, 

'I had to sacrifice myself; the older the person, the more power they give, but the older a person gets, the harder it is to get inside their head. And by keeping it consistent, it was easier to manipulate me when the time came to sacrifice.'

'Jesus fucking h Christ,' Ronan muttered, 'wait, who's the fucking greywaren? How are they still alive?' 

Celeste shook her head, 'it wasn't always the same one. But whenever a new one came, they looked similar. Just...younger.'

'One fucking strange family business.' Noah mumbled. 

'He…it wasn't supposed to become …real yet. It was waiting until this last sacrifice. With me still alive, it's weaker. But even if it killed me itself, not by my own hand, it will still grow to its full power.'

'So why weren’t you reborn as a child this time?'

'Because he had enough power already, he didn't need to wait 16 years. They created my body to be ready for the sacrifice straight away. I don't think you guys were part of the plan…'

Ronan grinned wickedly, 'Well we are now.'

'So what is our plan?' Henry pointed out, 

This time, it was Celeste’s turn to grin, 

'We kill it.'

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, like I said I'm making this up as I go along but will post a new chapter as soon as I can. I don't have a schedule but will try not to keep you all waiting too long between each chapter.  
> If you enjoyed this, please comment and/or leave kudos!  
> if you didn't, let me know why so I can improve my writing!


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